Tina Kakadelis
In between first looks of upcoming blockbuster films was a little sports game called the Super Bowl, but if you’re looking for football analysis, you’ve come to the wrong place. Here, you’ll find some of the Film Obsessive writers coming together to highlight their favorite first-look trailers of upcoming blockbuster films.
Twisters
Twisters joins the buffet line of high-profile sequels presented during the big game who have the unenviable task of justifying their very existence before worrying about putting butts in seats. Compared to Despicable Me 4, Kung Fu Panda 4, and Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes with more currently active franchises, this Universal Pictures transplant from Warner Bros. directed by (of all people) Minari’s Lee Isaac Chung (because nothing prepares someone for blockbuster action more than an immigrant family drama period piece, am I right?) has to answer the “why” question the most.
How do they do that? Show off the action and leave any comparisons to the beloved original in the deep background. Both VFX technology and the world’s climate change have accelerated since 1996 and this trailer was out to show that off. One person’s thrill ride is another person’s windy and dizzying mess, so the Twisters trailer will likely split those reactions. The trailer tries many moments on for size but lacks that one big one that will have people talking.
If Chung’s movie wants to succeed beyond spectacle, it’s going to take– like the original– entertaining and relatable characters to do it, not solely pixelated meteorological monsters. Recent Transformers series star Anthony Ramos is no stranger to this level of action, and neither is Glen Powell and his beefy swagger. The key will be the fresh face of Daisy Edgar-Jones. Make her as compelling as Helen Hunt was and you’ve got a more complete movie. — Don Shanahan
IF
Among the ten new film trailers debuting during this year’s Super Bowl are nine that are either sequels, franchise films, reboots, or adaptations, and one—just one, not counting Dev Patel’s Monkey Man, which appeared last week—that is produced from an original concept. That one is IF, a mixed live-action/animated feature written and directed by John Krasinski. See, all you have to do to take a new intellectual property to the big screen these days is star in a hit comedy for a decade, campaign relentlessly for a Marvel role, take on your own streaming hit series, and prove yourself a bona fide writer-director with a flair for the innovative and original.
Then you can take your rightful place alongside the Despicable Me and Kung Fu Panda 4s of the world.
In any case, Krasinski’s IF looks like it might be a real delight even if the big game trailer spot for takes up more time with a gag based on The Office where Randall Park pretends to be Krasinski to the consternation of Ryan Reynolds (subbing for Rainn Wilson’s perpetually consternated Dwight Schrute) as the two sit in director’s chairs on the pretend set. Does IF need a decade-old sitcom gag to sell it? In sharp contrast, IF‘s mix of live action and animated IFs (IF for “Imaginary Friends”) looks delightful and amusing, set to the loud crunch of Free’s “All Right Now” and with expert timing punctuating a few good gags.
IF is about a girl named Bea (Cailey Fleming) whose superpower is that she can see everyone’s imaginary friends, a gallery of unique characters that reflect the power of childlike imagination, and then embarks upon a quest to reconnect other forgotten IFs with their kids. Starring Reynolds, Krasinski, Fiona Shaw, and the voices of Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Louis Gossett Jr., Alan Kim, Liza Colón-Zayas, and Steve Carell, if IF is more like its featured teaser than its framing device with Reynolds and Park, it just might be the rare original IP to break through in a world of retreads and sequels. — J Paul Johnson
Wicked
Someone had to show some love to every 2000s theatre kid’s favorite musical. While I was not a theatre kid myself, I grew up in the same house as one who would play “Defying Gravity” ad nauseam in our shared bedroom to fall asleep. Learning to fall asleep as Idina Menzel belted that final run is why I slept through every single earthquake that happened when I was living in Los Angeles.
Like other recent movie musicals, Wicked is playing its musical cards close to its chest. Snippets of “Defying Gravity” accompany the trailer before singling out that famous final run as the teaser comes to a close, but we see no choreographed dances or singing performances. Studios are convinced that hiding a film’s musical nature will encourage more people to go out to the theater, but Wicked is one of the most famous Broadway shows. Just last year, Wicked became the fourth-longest-running show in Broadway history. Give the theatre kids a glimpse at the dancing already!
Wicked is the unofficial prequel to The Wizard of Oz. Originally a book by Gregory Maguire, the musical follows Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) and Glinda (Ariana Grande), two witches who have nothing in common and are forced to be roommates at Shiz University. The trailer gives audiences glimpses of the Yellow Brick Road, the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum), and other classic imagery from The Wizard of Oz. Fans will have to wait until Thanksgiving to see the film and that will only be part one of the Wicked story. — Tina Kakadelis
Deadpool & Wolverine
Six years, several studio mergers, and one global pandemic later, Ryan Reynolds’ beloved merc with a mouth is set to finally return to theaters—and at long last, he’s bringing one of his bestest buddies along for the ride. With the third film in the Deadpool franchise—now officially titled Deadpool & Wolverine—set to hit theaters this July, the film’s marketing campaign kicked off in grand fashion on Super Bowl Sunday.
While the trailer (most of which could only be seen online) has already been subjected to classic internet analysis and over-analysis alike—people are claiming the trailer hints at appearances at everyone from Lady Deadpool to Doctor Doom—the one thing that can be said for certain is that despite an acquisition by notoriously family-friendly Disney, this is still the Deadpool we know and love.
If anything, Deadpool & Wolverine looks to lean even further into Deadpool’s signature brand of raunchy meta humor—in this trailer alone we see Deadpool tell us that pegging “isn’t new to him, but it is new to Disney,” declare himself to be “Marvel Jesus,” and fighting in a post-apocalyptic wasteland that prominently features a crumbling ruin of the 20th Century Fox logo a la Ozymandias.
And at the very end, of course, we get the teeniest glimpse at Hugh Jackman’s return as Wolverine, iconic yellow uniform and everything. We’ll no doubt get more from him in future trailers and promos, but Deadpool & Wolverine is already shaping up to be one of the most vibrant MCU installments in quite some time. Who knows, maybe Deadpool will save the MCU after all. — Tim Glaraton
